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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQP5IAKtUAI
States in the comments it was a mix of factory, handloaded commercial wadcutters, and wadcutters cast from wheel weights.
One commenter points out the worn barrel would still serve most needs.
Good to know my barrels are probably good for at least 500,000 cast boolits!
Posted awhile back about +/- 275,000 rounds down the tube in a s&w 586. Most people can't fathom putting round counts like these in any firearm.
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/Sg4LjIe.jpg[/IMG]
You can clearly see the lands have a crisp/defined side and a non existent side. The drive side of the lands in gone as is the forcing cone along with the typical flame cutting on the face of the forcing cone.
Huge difference in the round count of the 586 and gp100 in the post above simply because of the difference in the powders used in the 38spl/wc's VS full house load using magnum powders in 357mag cases.
I wish whoever did the video would of bore scoped the cylinder of that revolver. Typically, you get a carbon ring built up from lite wc ammo that helps protect the cylinders from flame cutting. Not so much with hot/mag powders, the 586 cylinder has "steps" burned/etched into the cylinder holes.
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/oVb0XFC.jpg[/IMG]
Thanks for posting. That was very informative.
There was a thread some time ago about "barrel life" from using cast boolits. 110,000 to 200,000 in a rifle barrel, makes casting worthwhile!
That would be over 1400 rounds a week for 10 years or 205 a day each day in a year.
The man in the video said he had been shooting that gun for 20+ years. So, call it 700 rounds a week, roughly for 20 years.
If you practiced twice a week and fired 350 rounds each time, you would be there. If you practiced more often, which many top shooters do, You could cut down the per session round count and still get there.
No matter how you do it, that is a LOT of rounds.
That figures out around $45-50 thousand dollars in ammunition, minimum. Makes the custom revolver the cheapest part of the deal.
^^this.
I remember an interview with a pro shooter many years ago. He was told his competitor spent over $10,000 on his new pistol. The response was, 'The pistol is not the important part. If you told me he spent $10,000 on primers I'd be worried.'